OMCT condemns the repeated acts of torture and murder of Trans persons in Cali

On 19 December 2006 in the night, Andrea Anguacho, a Trans woman of 29 years and a sex worker benefiting from social and health programmes of the Santamaría GLTB Foundation, was injured by firearm. According to the information received, she underwent a surgery on 20 December at the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Cali. As she feared for her security, she later fled without lodging a complaint.

Around the same date, the corpse of another Trans person was found in the district of Barium Alfonso López of Cali, where sex workers are often situated. The person’s name and identity are still unknown in spite of the attempts by members of Santamaría to act in this case.

In an urgent appeal of 19 December 2006, OMCT had already denounced the murder of two Trans persons. The corpse of María Luisa Perea, a 46-year-old stylist, was found on 4 December 2006, in front of her house in Cali. Maria Luisa Perea’s body showed signs of 24 knife stabs, besides her being raped, beaten and tortured before dying. Likewise, on 15 October 2006, another trans girl, Viviana Muñoz, was murdered in the same city. Her corpse showed bruises due to blows and contusions (see Urgent Appeal COL 191206.VAW).

According to several sources, abuses and harassment are part of the every-day life of persons belonging to the LGBT community (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transsexuals) and their defenders in Cali, often by members of the police. Therefore, it is urgent to take adequate measures to change this reality, since, as stated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in her 2004 report on Colombia, “there is a lack of appropriate policies for guaranteeing the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals, as well as explicit legislative initiatives to provide criminal and disciplinary sanctions for discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation (…)[1]”.

OMCT recalls that the Colombian State must prevent, investigate and punish such acts[2], and, according to the principle of non discrimination, condemn all manifestations of transphobia in the country and guarantee the right to life and the right not to be tortured or ill-treated to every person under its jurisdiction. Therefore, OMCT urges the competent Colombian authorities to order immediate, thorough and impartial investigations into all the above mentioned cases, in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law, and to guarantee the safety and physical and psychological integrity of the members of the LGBT Community victims of abuses or harassment, particularly Andrea Anguacho, so as to enable them to lodge a complain and bring their cases before justice without fearing for their life.

For more information see www.omct.org or contact the Violence against Women Programme - Tel. +41 22 809 49 39 - Email: md@omct.org

[1] E/CN.4/2005/10. See http://www.hchr.org.co/documentoseinformes/informes/altocomisionado/Informe2004_eng.doc, p.64

[2] The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, in article 4(c) stated that States should “exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons.”